Linus BBQ – Great BBQ in the Bowels of Itaewon

Well not really the bowels, but it’s not on the main strip either. Hello gentle reader, after a serious bout of the flu and a virus to my Macbook, I am finally back with an entry. My life is so busy, but never too busy for some tender, juicy meat covered in BBQ sauce. This week, the wife and I had a chance to finally check out Linus BBQ. I use the word “finally” because this was not our first attempt. A couple of previous visits had us waiting anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. However, after dining there for lunch, we understand why it seems to be always packed.

How to get there: The easiest way to get there is to take the subway to Itaewon Station (Line 6) and depart from Exit 4. You will walk about 500 meters, almost to the end of the main strip. At the McDonalds, which will be on your left, you need to head down a set of stairs. Linus is through the building on the other side.

Atmosphere and Service: The first thing that hits you when you enter is the oldies coming from the stereo. It gave the restaurant that country, Southern feel to it. Jill was particularly swooned by the music, as it reminded her of her father’s bakery which also played the golden oldies. The open kitchen is always a plus. Linus was working hard in the kitchen creating BBQ goodness for us. It was a great atmosphere and captures the Southern charm.

The service was great. We ordered our meals and within 15-20 minutes it was served. The place was fairly busy for lunch, so to get food out that quickly was fairly impressive. The servers were all very nice and Linus even let me take a photo of him in action. A friendly group of people.

The master at work.

Food and Drink: Today we ordered the Pulled Pork Platter, the Brisket Platter and the Smoky Mac&Cheese. We had Crack Tea and Coke to drink.

The Brisket Platter (22,000KRW): Jill has been here before and recommended the platter mainly because you can choose the amount of meat you want on each sandwich. The platter comes with a portion of brisket, I don’t really want to say it’s too generous, but it is ample and three slider buns. The buns are soft, but a little toasted with butter. The brisket was very juicy and had a nice dry rub around the edge, nothing smokey or sweet, but more of a pepper flavor. There was a generous portion of fries and they were cooked fine. The coleslaw had a vinegar base, which is not my personal favorite (I prefer a mayonnaise based coleslaw) but it still tasted pretty damn good. The best part was the sauce. It had a sweet, but tangy flavor with a slight touch of heat. I showered my brisket in it. It was amazing!

The Brisket sauce was the darker of the two, but had a little more sweetness than the pulled pork. The pulled pork was spicier. Both were equally delicious.

Pulled Pork Platter (15,000KRW): Jill once again had the Pulled Pork Platter. She ordered this her first time around and needless to say, it was just as delicious the second time. The pulled pork is so tender and juicy that when you combine it with the sliders, it creates a moment of pure BBQ zen in your mouth. The sauce was a little spicier. It wasn’t anything that would blow you away, but it definitely gave the pork a little heat. Like my platter, the fries and coleslaw were fine.

Smoky Mac&Cheese (4,800KRW): The Smoky Mac&Cheese was the finale of our meal. There was a substantial amount of cheese with a definite smoky flavor. There was also a little heat to it as well. It was a little runny, but nothing to write home about. I love Southern cuisine, but damn is it hard on the old heart.

Crack Tea (6,000KRW) and Coke (3,500KRW): “I love when people say “like crack” who’ve obviously never done crack.” – Ryan Howard, The Office Season 7. So the Crack Tea isn’t exactly like the white rock, but it still made Jill wide-eyed. It was sweetened nicely and served in a small pitcher. A Coke is a Coke, but this was served in the vintage glass bottles. Love that shit.

Value: The total bill came to 53,000KRW. That’s pretty steep for a lunch, but damn was it nice to get some good BBQ. Although I felt that the meat portions could have been a little more generous (especially for 22,000KRW worth) I didn’t feel cheaper out either. Like with most places, the quality is what you pay for, and I expect to be back at Linus BBQ again in the near future. Hopefully we can get a table for dinner.

Who Should Visit Linus: Looking for some good BBQ in Itaewon. This is your spot.

My wife, friends and I came up from Yeosu this weekend and stopped here for some delicious BBQ midway through our food-crawl around Itaewon. Brisket was super, wouldn’t have known about this gem had it not been for your blog, so thanks!